diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/Version.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/Version.java
index 4df0bded3f6..26481821c69 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/Version.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/Version.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public class Version {
         return fromId(in.readVInt());
     }
 
-    private static Version fromId(int id) {
+    public static Version fromId(int id) {
         switch (id) {
             case V_0_18_0_ID:
                 return V_0_18_0;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
index 356c60cc7f8..9c042216cf4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsExecutors.daemonThreadF
  */
 public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implements ZenPing {
 
+    private static final byte[] INTERNAL_HEADER = new byte[]{1, 9, 8, 4};
+
     private final String address;
 
     private final int port;
@@ -267,6 +269,8 @@ public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implem
             CachedStreamOutput.Entry cachedEntry = CachedStreamOutput.popEntry();
             try {
                 HandlesStreamOutput out = cachedEntry.cachedHandlesBytes();
+                out.writeBytes(INTERNAL_HEADER);
+                Version.writeVersion(Version.CURRENT, out);
                 out.writeInt(id);
                 clusterName.writeTo(out);
                 nodesProvider.nodes().localNode().writeTo(out);
@@ -365,7 +369,7 @@ public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implem
                     ClusterName clusterName = null;
 
                     Map<String, Object> externalPingData = null;
-                    XContentType xContentType;
+                    XContentType xContentType = null;
 
                     synchronized (receiveMutex) {
                         try {
@@ -379,17 +383,34 @@ public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implem
                             continue;
                         }
                         try {
-                            xContentType = XContentFactory.xContentType(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset(), datagramPacketReceive.getLength());
-                            if (xContentType != null) {
-                                // an external ping
-                                externalPingData = XContentFactory.xContent(xContentType)
-                                        .createParser(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset(), datagramPacketReceive.getLength())
-                                        .mapAndClose();
-                            } else {
-                                StreamInput input = CachedStreamInput.cachedHandles(new BytesStreamInput(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset(), datagramPacketReceive.getLength()));
+                            boolean internal = false;
+                            if (datagramPacketReceive.getLength() > 4) {
+                                int counter = 0;
+                                for (; counter < INTERNAL_HEADER.length; counter++) {
+                                    if (datagramPacketReceive.getData()[datagramPacketReceive.getOffset() + counter] != INTERNAL_HEADER[counter]) {
+                                        break;
+                                    }
+                                }
+                                if (counter == INTERNAL_HEADER.length) {
+                                    internal = true;
+                                }
+                            }
+                            if (internal) {
+                                StreamInput input = CachedStreamInput.cachedHandles(new BytesStreamInput(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset() + INTERNAL_HEADER.length, datagramPacketReceive.getLength()));
+                                Version version = Version.readVersion(input);
                                 id = input.readInt();
                                 clusterName = ClusterName.readClusterName(input);
                                 requestingNodeX = readNode(input);
+                            } else {
+                                xContentType = XContentFactory.xContentType(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset(), datagramPacketReceive.getLength());
+                                if (xContentType != null) {
+                                    // an external ping
+                                    externalPingData = XContentFactory.xContent(xContentType)
+                                            .createParser(datagramPacketReceive.getData(), datagramPacketReceive.getOffset(), datagramPacketReceive.getLength())
+                                            .mapAndClose();
+                                } else {
+                                    throw new ElasticSearchIllegalStateException("failed multicast message, probably message from previous version");
+                                }
                             }
                         } catch (Exception e) {
                             logger.warn("failed to read requesting data from {}", e, datagramPacketReceive.getSocketAddress());